Recent Tasting Notes

From yesterday: Well, I had a headache so it was time to try some of the mint tea CharlotteZero sent over! thank you so much for that lovely package of teas! I really appreciate it. I had to open the teabag and dump it into my infuser to make sure this was just mint and not mint with another tea. I was planning on blending it with a black tea anyway! It does look like just mint..but to be honest, it kind of smells like catnip! I let my cat do a smell test.. first some mint then some catnip… he seemed less interested in the mint than the catnip. haha. But the flavor seemed like it couldn’t just be all mint… it wasn’t strong enough! I blended it with Ovation’s assam. It was delicious, but sadly didn’t make my headache disappear. Sometimes even mint can’t help them. I must keep track of which teas always make the headache disappear… right now, I think it’s only Zen’s Chocolate Mint Rooibos which is odd.

The Tournament of Books starts in a week and I have three books in my possession to read in time for it! (themorningnews.org) Time to get reading!

Iced! I grew up in the south, so I’ve always had sweet tea. Even as a little child, I’d have glasses upon glasses of sweet tea with dinner. (And then wondered why I couldn’t get to sleep.) So my quest throughout this pregnancy has been to find something that could be subbed in for my traditional sweet tea with less caffeine. Actually, in the beginning, I was looking for no caffeine.

This is the closest to the winner yet. You might have noticed from my past posts, I’ve not found a winner yet. I’m blaming it on cold rooibos. This one actually works. And though it’s caffeinated, it’s less than black tea at a time when I’m ramping up caffeine a bit, so one cup a day will still work with my cup of hot tea a day as well. Yay! And, it’s flavorful enough that no sugar is needed. (And I don’t typically sweeten my green tea in the first place.)

The taste? Margot’s right… the fruit doesn’t stand out. I suspect it does a bit more in this cold version than a hot cup, but it’s clearly second to the tea. The green tea is okay, but not great. It’s just what you’d expect from a cheap bag of fruit flavored green tea. But it works for something that’s meant to be thirst quenching rather than a cup of tea that’s meant for flavor.

So, yay for something cold to have on hot southern days! I’ve finally found my tea! Now the question is how much longer I’ll be on this level of caffeine restriction… due date is somewhere between three and seven weeks!

The only warning to give on this is not to let it steep too long. It is pleasant, refreshing, and comforting. The fruity taste is subtle, but absolutely there. When I have had it iced, it has a bitter edge.

I was very disappointed in this tea. I thought it was a bargain to get 80 tea bags for $4 of what sounded like a unique and refreshing green tea, but I got the mediocre quality I paid for. The pomegranate and cranberry flavors are too subtle that it tasted to me like plain green tea despite how long I steep it. I was needed more potent fruitiness. I’m not one to waste a cup of green tea, though, so I am satisfied to know that I won’t be without a green tea bag for quite some time.

For $4 you get 80 organic black tea bags. That alone makes this a steal. It is very nice tea though. I tweeted Whole foods about where the teas come from and I believe they told me China, Kenya, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). I drink it mostly hot with a little milk and sugar. I use it as a breakfast tea. Not a heavy hit of caffeine. Very good value.

Preparation

I wasn’t comparing this to my $25 for a couple oz Gyokuro. It is a bagged tea, but I feel much better than similar priced lipton or generic dust teas. Since I started with loose brew and then have bagged teas when I am in a hurry, I am picky on my bagged tea. This is one that is nice to have in the afternoon at the office, especially for the price. If price is not an issue and you want bagged tea, go with Numi brand.